Revealing Dissociable Attention Biases in Chronic Smokers Through an Individual-Differences Approach

Addiction is accompanied by attentional biases (AB), wherein drug-related cues grab attention independently of their perceptual salience. AB have emerged in different flavours depending on the experimental approach, and their clinical relevance is still debated. In chronic smokers we sought evidence for dissociable attention abnormalities that may play distinct roles in the clinical manifestations of the disorder. Fifty smokers performed a modified visual probe-task measuring two forms of AB and their temporal dynamics, and data on their personality traits and smoking history/ status were collected. Two fully dissociable AB effects were found: A Global effect, reflecting the overall impact of smoke cues on attention, and a Location-specific effect, indexing the impact of smoke cues on visuospatial orienting. Importantly, the two effects could be neatly separated from one another as they: (i) unfolded with dissimilar temporal dynamics, (ii) were accounted for by different sets of predictors associated with personality traits and smoking history and (iii) were not correlated with one another. Importantly, the relevance of each of these two components in the single individual depends on a complex blend of personality traits and smoking habits, a result that future efforts addressing the clinical relevance of addiction-related AB should take into careful consideration.This study was supported by funding provided by the University of Verona to CDL, CC and L

Barrier Tissue Macrophages: Functional Adaptation to Environmental Challenges

Macrophages are found throughout the body, where they have crucial roles in tissue development, homeostasis and remodeling, as well as being sentinels of the innate immune system that can contribute to protective immunity and inflammation. Barrier tissues, such as the intestine, lung, skin and liver, are exposed constantly to the outside world, which places special demands on resident cell populations such as macrophages. Here we review the mounting evidence that although macrophages in different barrier tissues may be derived from distinct progenitors, their highly specific properties are shaped by the local environment, which allows them to adapt precisely to the needs of their anatomical niche. We discuss the properties of macrophages in steady-state barrier tissues, outline the factors that shape their differentiation and behavior and describe how macrophages change during protective immunity and inflammation

Ecological risk assessment of contaminated soil and sediment - proposals for improvement of the Dutch urgency system

In the Netherlands the application of a decision support system to determine the urgency for remediation (hereafter the urgency system) when a site is contaminated above the standards for soil contamination (intervention values combined with criteria for polluted volume and surface area) is advised by the Soil Protection Act. The urgency system is now in function for about 5 years. New technical and scientific insights, bottlenecks in the application of the urgency system, and new soil protection policy are pressing towards reflection and reformulation of the current practice. The aim of this study is to create applicable proposals for site-specific ecological risk assessment possibly to improve the current urgency system, accommodating the current trends. The first proposal is focussed on a central role of the calculation of the toxic pressure per chemical and of the combined toxic pressure of all chemicals together at the site, rather than comparison of concentrations of chemicals with HC50 values or soil quality standards. The second proposal is focussed on elaboration of the assessment with site specific biological information such as the results from bioassay testing and ecological field observations. The combination of three disciplines in a Triad approach (environmental chemistry, bioassay testing, ecological field observations) will improve the reliability of the assessment, because it will efficiently eliminate intrinsic and conceptual uncertainties in assessment techniques.De systematiek voor de bepaling van de saneringsurgentie in de Wet bodembescherming (Wbb; kortweg urgentiesystematiek) is nu ongeveer 5 jaar operationeel. Een van de onderdelen in de urgentiesystematiek betreft de afleiding van actuele ecologische risico's van (water)bodemverontreiniging. In dit rapport zijn voorstellen geformuleerd voor eenvoudige methodieken om locatiespecifieke ecologische risico's af te leiden op basis van de technisch-wetenschappelijk ontwikkelingen anno 2000. De voorgestelde methodieken kunnen in principe worden gebruikt ter vervanging van de rekenregels in de urgentiesystematiek of als een aanvullend instrumentarium. Het eerste voorstel is uitsluitend gebaseerd op een inschatting van de ecologische risico's op basis van de aanwezigheid van verontreinigende stoffen en literatuurgegevens voor toxiciteit. Bij het tweede voorstel wordt de beoordeling volgens de uitgangspunten van een Triade-benadering uitgevoerd, waarbij de milieuchemische benadering van voorstel 1 wordt aangevuld met biologische gegevens, zoals meetbare toxiciteit in monsters van de verontreinigde locaties m.b.v. bioassays, en ecologische veldwaarnemingen. De combinatie van drie typen gegevens in de Triade-benadering (milieuchemische gegevens, resultaten van bioassays en ecologische waarnemingen) vermindert de conceptuele onzekerheden van individuele beoordelingsparameters waardoor de beoordeling betrouwbaarder wordt

Ecological risk assessment of contaminated soil and sediment - proposals for improvement of the Dutch urgency system

De systematiek voor de bepaling van de saneringsurgentie in de Wet bodembescherming (Wbb; kortweg urgentiesystematiek) is nu ongeveer 5 jaar operationeel. Een van de onderdelen in de urgentiesystematiek betreft de afleiding van actuele ecologische risico's van (water)bodemverontreiniging. In dit rapport zijn voorstellen geformuleerd voor eenvoudige methodieken om locatiespecifieke ecologische risico's af te leiden op basis van de technisch-wetenschappelijk ontwikkelingen anno 2000. De voorgestelde methodieken kunnen in principe worden gebruikt ter vervanging van de rekenregels in de urgentiesystematiek of als een aanvullend instrumentarium. Het eerste voorstel is uitsluitend gebaseerd op een inschatting van de ecologische risico's op basis van de aanwezigheid van verontreinigende stoffen en literatuurgegevens voor toxiciteit. Bij het tweede voorstel wordt de beoordeling volgens de uitgangspunten van een Triade-benadering uitgevoerd, waarbij de milieuchemische benadering van voorstel 1 wordt aangevuld met biologische gegevens, zoals meetbare toxiciteit in monsters van de verontreinigde locaties m.b.v. bioassays, en ecologische veldwaarnemingen. De combinatie van drie typen gegevens in de Triade-benadering (milieuchemische gegevens, resultaten van bioassays en ecologische waarnemingen) vermindert de conceptuele onzekerheden van individuele beoordelingsparameters waardoor de beoordeling betrouwbaarder wordt.In the Netherlands the application of a decision support system to determine the urgency for remediation (hereafter the urgency system) when a site is contaminated above the standards for soil contamination (intervention values combined with criteria for polluted volume and surface area) is advised by the Soil Protection Act. The urgency system is now in function for about 5 years. New technical and scientific insights, bottlenecks in the application of the urgency system, and new soil protection policy are pressing towards reflection and reformulation of the current practice. The aim of this study is to create applicable proposals for site-specific ecological risk assessment possibly to improve the current urgency system, accommodating the current trends. The first proposal is focussed on a central role of the calculation of the toxic pressure per chemical and of the combined toxic pressure of all chemicals together at the site, rather than comparison of concentrations of chemicals with HC50 values or soil quality standards. The second proposal is focussed on elaboration of the assessment with site specific biological information such as the results from bioassay testing and ecological field observations. The combination of three disciplines in a Triad approach (environmental chemistry, bioassay testing, ecological field observations) will improve the reliability of the assessment, because it will efficiently eliminate intrinsic and conceptual uncertainties in assessment techniques.DGM-B